


Souvenirs

by moonlight_petal



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, Case Fic, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt!Jack, Mac being Mac, Papa Bear Jack, Protective!Jack, Team as Family, hurt!Riley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 05:42:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17339618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlight_petal/pseuds/moonlight_petal
Summary: Jack gets a call for help from an old buddy.Of course he'll help even if it means facing old regrets, dealing with a stroppy teenager and taking on some sleazy asshole arms dealers.It wouldn't be half as difficult if Mac and Bozer didn't have to help another team at the same time.





	Souvenirs

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, it's me again, with my longest one yet.  
> As it's the norm by now, this turned out a little differently than I had expected but who cares right?  
> In this I realised that, just like with 'I'll be home', I really shouldn't be allowed to write highly emotional conversations in the middle of the night, they always turn out even more emotional than they were supposed to be.  
> I really hope I haven't overdone it with this one.
> 
> As always, be warned, English isn't my mother tongue, so excuse awkward wording and probably abysmal punctuation.
> 
> I really would love to know what you thought at the end.  
> Please enjoy!

** Souvenirs **

**Budapest**

**A not so abandoned warehouse**

Jack coughed softly, shaking his head to get rid of the debris that had flown in his direction as bullets hit the cornerwall he had taken cover behind. Carefully he tried to take a look, then checked his gun, supressing a frustrated sigh. _It's going to be easy, Jack. In and out and we'll be on our way home before you know it._ Yeah right, as if it ever was that easy.

 

"Hey Mac how's your miracle coming along? I don't want to pressure you or anything but I could really use that now... I'm almost out of ammo here..." he spoke softly into the comms.

He had been the distraction so Mac could get the intel they came for and then blow the building up for lack of a better plan. It went fine until the bad guys had gotten back-up. "Come on buddy, I don't want to be turned into a sieve out here..." he took another cautious look around the corner, quickly pulling back again when more debris rained down on him.

He hated *easy* missions, he hated running out of ammo, he hated not being able to at least run because he probably had cracked ribs. Jack Dalton hated a lot of things in that moment.

 

"Keep your head down, Jack! Wait for the second explosion and then run to your left, there should be an emergency exit, take cover over there, I'll come and get you with the truck." came Mac's strained voice over the comms.

 

"Truck?" was all that Jack could reply to that because they certainly hadn't arrived in a truck but then the first explosion shook the building. Mac apparently took 'blow the building up' rather literal today. He had not all that much time to marvel at Mac's ability once again when the second explosion shook the building again, a lot closer this time and judging by the commotion behind him it certainly was safe enough for him to make an escape. 'Running' would be an exaggeration but he got out quickly enough, taking cover behind a couple of containers just when another explosion shook the area and the tell tale sounds of a building caving in deafened Jack.

 

A moment later Mac stopped next to the containers in a big and most definitely bulletproof truck he obviously stole from the baddy back-up team. Jack grinned brightly at his friend when he as slowly and carefully as he dared in the moment got into the passenger seat.

 

"Sorry I took so long, you alright?" Mac asked concern in his voice as he navigated away from the warehouse, towards the exfil coordinates Riley had sent him.

 

"Don't worry about me, kid. Cracked ribs, nothing life threatening, just get us home, alright?"

 

For a second Mac turned his head to look at Jack, quickly assessing if his friend tried to hide anything from him. When he saw nothing obvious he let it go, most certainly breaking any speed limits on the way anyway. Not that Mac cared, it wasn't his car after all.

 

"Yeah, alright!"

 

~*~

 

**Los Angeles**

**Jack's Apartment**

**Home sweet home**

"Alright old man, here you go!" Mac smirked as he helped Jack up the stairs and on his couch.

 

"Hey I'm hurt, okay? That's nothing to do with my age..." Jack groused. The doc at Phoenix Medical had checked Jack over very thoroughly, bandaged some smaller cuts and scratches and had given him a really tight bandage around his chest to stabilize his ribs which were indeed slightly cracked. He had also given him a dose of the good pain meds which dulled the pain sufficiently but also kicked his sense of balance in the butt. That was the only reason why Jack had let Mac, Riley and Bozer take him home instead of driving himself.

 

"Yes you are and while I admit that your injury certainly plays a major role here, you still *are* kind of old..." Riley quipped cheekily, getting a hidden thumbs up from Bozer who placed the groceries and take-out bags on Jack's kitchen counter.

 

"Yeah, yeah, I get it... let's wait until you are my age, we'll see who's laughing then..." Jack grumbled.

 

"Well... considering that you will be even *older* then, it's highly likely that it's still us..." Mac grinned, patting Jack's shoulder. "But hey... age is just a number... don't worry about it!" he added, smirk changing into a softer smile, showing Jack that despite making fun of him, he still was worried about him.

 

"Right..." Jack nodded.

 

"Okay joking aside, here you go Jack, eat up, it will help with the side effects." Riley said pushing a take out box into Jack's hands.

 

"Thanks Riley..." Jack smiled gratefully.

He knew his family loved joking around and teasing him, but at the end of the day, they were just that, family. They also looked after one another.

 

**

 

After an early dinner, they had started with the _The Hobbit_ trilogy. (Actually Jack had wanted to watch _Lord of the Rings_ but Bozer had argued that they should start the story chronologically. That was after the three of them had gotten over the shock that Jack did not want to watch _Die Hard_ like they expected, that is.)

 

Despite being high on pain meds, Jack had been the last one to fall asleep, slowly getting up and putting blankets over the three younger ones, smiling softly.

 

It was Riley however who woke them up the next morning.

"What's that beeping? It's annoying, shut it off." she grumbled, loudly enough to get the attention of the three men.

 

"What beeping?" Bozer asked sleepily just as it stopped and started all over again just a moment after.

 

Jack took a short moment to shake the sleep from his mind before he actually focused on the sound, instantly on high alert.

"No... no, no, no! Nobody should be calling me on that..." he mumbled, getting up a lot faster than was advisable, wincing at his aching side as he limped into his bedroom, leaving a confused team behind.

 

When Jack did not emerge from his bedroom five minutes later, Bozer wanted to get up and see if he could hear anything through the door but Mac, knowing Jack a lot longer, shook his head softly.

 

When another fifteen minutes passed and Jack yet had to show his face again, even Mac started to get antsy.

 

The blond agent waited exactly five more minutes before it was him who got up and went to Jack's bedroom door. Carefully he leaned closer to listen but didn't hear anything. Slowly and silently he opened the door, giving Jack every chance to stop him if he needed or wanted to.

 

Mac frowned when he found Jack sitting on his bed, an older model mobile phone in hand, staring out the window lost in thought.

"Jack? Everything alright?" he asked gently, stopping just inside the door frame.

 

Despite his best efforts not to, Mac had startled Jack out of his thoughts, causing the older one to turn a little too fast for his ribs' liking, making him hiss in pain. When Jack had his breathing under control again, he looked Mac in the eyes and shook his head.

"I don't know, Mac..."

 

The blond tried to get a read on Jack, his friend was obviously shaken, he seemed a bit confused maybe, if he had to describe it. He put a gentle hand on Jack's shoulder.

"You want to talk about it? Is there anything I can do? *We* can do?"

 

For a moment Jack seemed thoughtful, his eyes trained on the phone in his hands again.

"Yes... no! Maybe? I need to talk to Matty..." he sighed, slowly getting to his feet again.

 

Mac raised an eyebrow at these words, hadn't expected them. It either meant Jack needed to talk to Matty about someone they both knew or if he wanted to talk to all of them, whatever happened was big enough that he needed her input if not help.

 

"Alright, we can do that, how about we split up, you wash up and get ready while I call Matty and Bozer and Riley arrange for breakfast. Whatever happened, you need to take your pain meds or you won't do anyone any good very soon, Jack. Let us handle that, okay?" Mac didn't wait long enough for a reply. Instead he squeezed Jack's shoulder slightly and then went out to give Bozer and Riley a heads up, before calling Matty.

 

**Los Angeles**

**Phoenix Foundation HQ**

All eyes were on Jack while they quietly nibbled on the bagles Bozer had picked up on the way. Matty, even without Mac's warning, sensed that something was off about her senior agent and left him enough space until he was ready to talk.

 

"Alright, I'm not entirely sure what to make of all this myself, so bear with me, please..." Jack began. "In a perfect world, this phone should have stayed quiet forever. It's about the only thing in my possession next to my dad's dog tags that I really care about and keep safe and charged at all times. The reason for that is, there are only five people who know the number for it." He swallowed thickly. "These five people are my old Delta team. We all have one and it's for absolute emergencies only."

 

The other occupants in the room raised their eyebrows and exchanged some looks. The fact that said phone had been called in the morning gave them a sense of foreboding. Just Jack's overall reaction did not exactly spell 'emergency' for them. They all kept quiet though.

 

"As you know, one of my buddies called this morning with a rather peculiar emergency and I'm not sure I'm the right person for it, given that I'm... well me." when he spoke those words his eyes lingered on Riley for second longer.

 

"What's the emergency, Dalton? I hardly think that there is a mission you can't get done." Matty asked sharply, for all the world sounding impatient but the four others in the room clearly heard the genuinely concerned undertone.

 

"Well, Greg... he got himself into a bit of a tight spot and has to go under for a while, he didn't want to tell me more about it and he seemed not all that worried about it anyway. His main concern was his family, more precisely his thirteen year old daughter Katherine. Apparently his wife passed away two or three years ago which I didn't know about." he sighed regretfully. His old team definitely hadn't kept as in touch as he'd liked them to.

 

"Alright, so whats the mission here? Keep an eye on Katherine or..." Bozer asked after the silence in the room stretched longer than he liked.

 

"Yes and no. He fears that with the way he stumbled back into this job he thought he had finished years ago, that he might have attracted trouble to his own door step. Plus, according to Greg, Katherine is a bit of a troublemaker herself, losing her mom apparently did a number on her."

 

"Understandable..." muttered Mac, who knew that feeling intimately.

 

Jack nodded and continued. "He knows all the others are out for good and have their own families to consider by now and so I am the only one he trusts enough to keep Katherine safe in case someone does come for her, help her pack up her stuff and escort her to New Orleans where her grandparents live who will take her in until he can safely come home."

 

Jack looked up at them, saw the confusion he felt mirrored in their eyes.

"Look, I know it doesn't sound like much but Greg fears his daughter is in real danger otherwise he would never have dialled this number."

 

"Of course, Jack. We'll help with whatever you need, what's the plan?" Mac asked when Jack ended his plea, not hesitating for a second.

 

"Well, I need time off, obviously. I'll have to drive up to San Francisco and look after Katherine. Greg had to leave already and a neighbour is looking after her at the moment, which isn't ideal given that he fears for her safety, so I should go soon." Jack started, eyes on Matty who already nodded, it wasn't a question that she would give Jack the time to deal with this issue. "She has a week of school left and we'll use that time to pack up her stuff and get it shipped to New Orleans and then I'll take her there too."

 

Riley had been really quiet during Jack's explanation, the story of that girl hitting close to home for her, but now she fixed him with a hard glare.

"I just hear 'I' here, Jack. You don't think we let you go alone, do you? Not to mention that you are in no shape to do this at all actually." she grumbled.

 

"Riles..." the older one sighed, old regrets shining in his eyes.

 

"Oh I hate to do this... usually I'd say Riley is right but to tell the truth, I can't really spare you all at the moment. Well mostly Mac and Bozer... Of course you can go Jack but I have to insist that Mac and Bozer stay here for now. I was about to call you in anyway when your call came. Riley, I leave the decision to you. If you want to help, you are free to go." Matty said and in her voice was also a hint of regret. He knew her team worked best when they were whole but it just wasn't an option at the moment, a long operation was at stake here.

 

"What? Matty, you can't be serious!" Bozer said, surprise and shock in his voice, even bordering on anger.

 

"Actually, she can, Bozer... well Jack..." Mac turned to his older friend. "I think it's best you get ready, let doc check your bandage before you leave and take care of yourself, don't play the hero if not absolutely necessary. Riley, I assume you're with him in that case?" The woman nodded resolutely. "Good, keep an eye on him, help him and make sure he takes his pain meds. And keep us updated, okay? We follow you two as soon as possible." The blond looked Jack in the eye, silently promising that he would be there for him if needed, even if it meant skipping out on Matty. "Okay Matty what's this important mission for Bozer and I, the sooner we start the sooner we can finish." he turned to his boss.

 

Matty looked apologetically at Jack and Riley.

"I'm sorry, good luck you two! Call if something out of the ordinary happens. Take care!"

 

Bozer said the same before he turned determinedly to the screen wall. He would finish this job as soon as possible.

 

Matty watched Jack and Riley leave, unhappy about it herself.

"Alright you two, this is absolutely less than ideal, I understand but I need your specific skill sets. As of last night we have a team in a safe house in Carson City. They had been on a surveillance op but our agents got made. They did retrieve the needed data concerning a big weapons deal that's supposed to go down tomorrow in a casino in Reno, however. They were also tasked to take down the seller there which is where you come in Bozer. We are on a tight schedule here, so bringing in another team isn't possible. You are by far our best disguise specialist on the team, I need you to show them how they can make a convincing disguise in time for the take down."

 

"Wow Matty, thanks for the compliment but I'm not entirely sure that will work. These things need quite a bit of work to look convincing, if they haven't done things like this before, it's nearly impossible to do." Bozer looked concerned.

 

"Wait, didn't you say a 'team'? With missions like that aren't there usually more than two people? Why can't they just swap positions?" Mac asked confused. That most definitely would be the easier option.

 

"Oh I can tell you that, MacGyver, because this dirtbag of an arms dealer we're after is an egocentric, arrogant asshole who surrounds himself with young and well dressed people only, besides his clients of course. Maggy and I don't fit that description anymore, as young as we might feel on the inside." came a low voice from the screen, where two agents appeared in the image.

 

Mac recognised them as John and Maggy Hawthorne, brother and sister. He should be in his very late forties now, full beard and obvious silver streaks in his short hair and his sister, a year or two younger, didn't look obviously 'old' but more mature than they could afford for their assignment.

 

"Yes thank you, John. Bozer, I don't think you've met before, meet John and Maggy Hawthorne, two of our most experienced and most successful surveillance and intel extraction agents. As for your earlier concern, neither of them is as experienced as you obviously but in line of their work they also did various disguises before, I think with your guidance Maggy should be able to change Melissa and Steve's appearance enough so that they can finish their job." Matty explained, looking at her own agent expectantly.

 

"Hi there, I'm Bozer. So not a newbie after all and no full mask required, I think we can make that work, provided you have or can get your hands on the materials we need. Do you have a second computer on hand? Because I'd like to take this down to the lab, it's easier to explain when I have the stuff on hand too. And since Mac had to stay behind as well, I suppose you need this connection?" Bozer asked, looking at his friend, who had listened carefully while scrolling through some of the reports the team had sent in before but obviously was still unsure as to how he would be able to help.

 

"Hello Bozer, yeah it's just a bit of experience but I hope we can work something out, we need to get to Bosov tomorrow or we lose him and over a year of work. I have my own work station, so I'll call you on that. As for materials, we'll have to go over that and see what we can do." Maggy said.

 

"Well that was as good of an transition as we're going to get..." John said. "Bozer said 'stay behind', I hope we haven't ruined any plans for you, MacGyver but as you well know, your reputation preceeds you and I'm having a couple of technical problems."

 

Mac watched Maggy leave the frame and heard Bozer leave the room before he concentrated on the task at hand.

"Don't worry about that, John. Hit me, what's the problem? I'm sure we can work something out..." he said, resolutely pushing away the worry about Jack and Riley.

 

"Well first, and that's a more immediate problem, we have issues with our power here. We are currently working with a small back-up generator but that will hold only that long. This safe house wasn't in use for quite some time. I'm usually not abysmal with these things but I can't work out what the problem is here. And the second thing would be, we have devised a plan to get to the mark tomorrow but getting him out undetected kind of hinges on if you can help me build a power drill that's small enough to fit one of those fancy little handbags women take to cocktail parties and the like." John explained a little sheepishly.

 

Mac was stunned silent for a moment but shook himself slightly, it's not like he hadn't built odder stuff to make plans work before already and he did like a challenge.

"Okay, first things first, we need to get your power working, can you show me the fuse box and then we go from there." Mac began. One problem at a time.

 

~*~

 

**Jack's car**

**On-route to San Francisco**

Riley glanced at Jack for the fifth time in as many minutes. They had started their six hour drive about 45 minutes ago and Jack had yet to say something. He hadn't even put in one of his many CDs nor did he sing (badly) along to one of the songs that came on on the radio. (A pop/rock station no less.) Jack was silent and one thing Riley knew for sure, Jack Dalton didn't *do* silent. The man was always ranting about something, telling one of his long-winded stories, always talking... and as much as it annoyed her under any other circumstances, the silence worried her a lot more.

 

"Jack? Are you alright?" she asked hesitantly.

The older man smiled half-heartedly at her before he turned his eyes back on the road.

"I'm fine, Riles, don't worry about me. It's not the first time that I cracked my ribs and probably not the last." absentmindedly he touched his side, the bandage hidden under his shirt.

 

"Yeah that's good to know but not exactly what I meant. Seeing you so thoughtful is a bit... unsettling to tell you the truth. Care to share what's going on in you head? It's the mission, isn't it? Katherine? Or is it your friend..."

 

Jack took a deep breath, sighing when he let it out again. He wasn't sure if he should tell Riley. But on the other hand, she was unfortunately the only one with him to talk *to* and maybe -probably even- she was actually the best person to talk to.

 

"Both actually. Greg said I shouldn't worry too much, that he can handle it, just needs some time and normally I would believe that. I mean, I know how this guy works and he's gotten himself into tight spots before and got out just fine but now... with all this going on, I can't help but wonder if it's going to be that way this time too, you know? The way I understand it, he's been out for a while and something he thought was over found its way back into his life again. You know when that happens? When you pissed someone off enough for them to come for you the first chance they have. And chances are that they do it by threatening your loved ones." Jack said.

 

"Like the Collective did with my mum, yeah... or at least similarly to that." Riley interjected, nodding. It made sense in a way and it all fit together. "That would explain why he's so worried about his daughter being in danger. But honestly, he should tell you something like this, right?"

 

"Yeah well, I guess that's the problem, right? Fear is a fickle thing, you know? It makes you do and say things you don't want to, enables you to do stuff you couldn't imagine before, even hurt the people closest to you if necessary." Jack said, voice growing soft, sad even.

 

The young woman watched a pained shadow flicker over Jack's face, but instinctively she knew it wasn't physical pain that was bothering him but emotional pain. Cautiously she put a hand on Jack's forearm, drawing soft circles with her thumb.

"You speak from experience..." she whispered, more a statement than a question.

 

Jack nodded jerkily and they fell silent for a few miles.

"I never told you this before and I'm really sorry about that. I should have told you the whole story when we talked after getting you out of prison. While it's true that I left because I thought you would hate me for what I did to your biological father and because I thought I wasn't good enough for Diane and you because I couldn't tell you the whole truth... I think a big reason was the ever present possibility that I would put you in danger, this fear was always eating away at me..." Jack confessed softly and after a moment of somewhat emotional silence in the car, he started the turn light and stopped in the parking lot of a small diner on the side of the highway.

 

Jack took another moment to bring his thoughts into a semblance of order at least.

"Look, Riley... this probably... no definitely isn't the time or the place for this conversation but right now I have a lot on my mind and this situation  with Greg and his daughter... I don't know... I need you to know, to understand. I loved your mom and walking away from her hurt but it was the right thing to do. But Riley, it wasn't just that... you might not have seen it that way back then but I loved you too and under any other circumstances I would have been thoroughly prepared to make you my own. Walking away from that was painful as fuck but the single thought of *maybe* being the reason that something happened you? That killed me. I couldn't let that happen, Riles, I simply couldn't... not because of me! So I walked away, knowing full well that in doing so I would be responsible for yet another scar on your heart. I hoped you would find someone good, the both of you... I couldn't help myself, I kept infrequent tabs on you otherwise I probably wouldn't have known where to find you. Greg was a lot braver than I was, I guess, because he stood by his girl despite the danger." he rubbed an unsteady hand over his face, giving himself a second before he dared to look at Riley.

 

The young woman had tears brimming in her eyes. Jack and her had talked about some of the things that had happened but never this deeply, this raw, this boldly truthful.

"Jack..." she whispered, lost for words and overall choked by emotion.

 

"You don't have to say anything, I know I made mistakes and I regret so many of them... but given a second chance? I think I would do the same thing if it means keeping you safe. You know the job first-hand now, you know how easily, how quickly something goes wrong and people end up in the cross fire. Bozer is the best example for that. That could have been you or your mom, I would never have been able to forgive myself. That's why I have to get this right now, bring this girl safely home to her grandparents until Greg has sorted out his troubles, so a good man, one I owe my life to, never has to regret taking the dangerous and difficult path."

 

"We will, Jack! I know noone better for that job than you. And so you know? It hurt like hell, seeing you leave but knowing what I know now, I do understand your decision better and know that it can't have been easy for you either. For the record, every single guy my mom brought home after failed the comparison to you. You always have been more of a father than anyone else for me, mainly because you saw me for who I was and not just a means to an end to get into my moms pants, if you excuse the language. I loved you then too, I think, although I didn't realise it until you were gone. And to some extend, that never changed." It was her turn to confess, as discreetly as possible wiping at her eyes.

 

"I love you too, Riley. And I know I said it before but I promise you again, from now on I'll be whatever you need me to be: a friend, a big brother, a father... or just the weird uncle who's always there. That's not going to change now, never again!" he pulled her close into an awkward half embrace as best as the space allowed, pressing a soft kiss to her dark locks.

 

When he let her go, Jack wiped away some stray wetness from his eyes and cleared his thoughts.

"So, how about we go grab a coffee and quick toilet break while we're already here, not necessarily in that order..." he drastically changed the topic, sensing that Riley could use a moment to herself.

 

"Sounds good, Jack, let's do that..."

 

~*~

 

**Los Angeles**

**Phoenix HQ**

"Alright, now you need to let it dry properly, eight to ten hours should do it..." Bozer concluded his step by step tutorial with Maggy. "Wait, when's the deal going down again?"

 

The older woman sighed in relief and smiled.

"Early evening, tomorrow. We should have plenty of time to finish this up right? I do assume that we've done the bigger part of the work now..."

 

Bozer mirrored her sigh of relief.

"Oh good and yes you're absolutely right, I think the worst is over and done with once it dried out. You'll have to colour the pieces and blend them in with make-up, but that's for tomorrow..."

 

"Thanks Bozer, you really are a saviour... John and I have been after this guy for so long now and he always managed to get away... we don't want to let that happen another time. It's amazing what you can do with so few supplies already." Maggy grinned at him, a slightly motherly gleam in her eyes.

 

"Thanks for the compliment, Maggy. But this is a small thing really... come by the lab, when you're around HQ again and I can show you a lot more of what we can do with these things." the younger man replied, grinning brightly, he thrived when someone praised his talents.

 

"Oh, absolutely. I'll take you up on that invitation. So Bozer... I hear my brother is just about finishing up with Mac, our main power should be back online soon. Yay to that! Now please put me out of my misery before I say good-bye for now. Did we hold Mac and you back from something important?" she looked at him searchingly. "It's alright if you can't talk about it, just say the word."

 

Bozer thought about it for a moment, then sighed.

"Not exactly, not in the Phoenix definition of important at least... Jack has gotten hurt a bit on his and Mac's last mission and got called away on a personal emergency. I don't know anything new yet. We all wanted to go and support him, now only Riley has gone with him for now. We'll go as soon as your mission was a success though! No worries, I'm sure Jack can handle it."

 

Maggy just nodded at that, did understand him and the whole team very well.

"Thank you Bozer, I'll call you back again around eight tomorrow morning, alright?"

 

"Perfect!" Bozer enthused before shutting off his equipment.

 

"Bozer! Riley just checked in, they are about fifteen minutes from their destination, I thought you should know too!" Mac calls to his best friend from where he had waited for him to finish up next to Sparky.

 

"Oh good, hopefully we get a bit more info soon. Jack was properly shaken by the whole thing, we can only hope that everything goes well there." Bozer sighed, taking his stuff and joining Mac by Sparky's side. "You done here?

 

"Yeah he was, and I have a theory as to why..." Mac sighed. "Man, I'd feel a lot better if Jack at least wasn't hurt. But yeah I'm done, I did what I could for now, John has to get a couple of supplies before we can build what he needs. We should head home now, they will call once they're settled in I guess..."

 

~*~

 

**San Francisco**

**Teenage Hell**

Jack shouldn't have been surprised, not after the neighbour who had been looking after Katherine had shot him a pitying look and left with the words 'Good luck'.

 

In a way he had expected a grumbly teenager sure, but not this frankly volatile girl. Greg certainly hadn't been sugarcoating when he called her a troublemaker and he had taught her well.

 

Katherine Thomson was one little firecracker, she just about reached Jack's chest, slim built and had long, dark locks that were streaked with metallic blue highlights. Her dress code kind of reminded him of Riley, consisting of mostly dark colours and a hell of a lot of leather, denim and spikes and studs. And she did have the attitude for it.

 

He was mostly certain that Greg had prepared his daughter before he left, told her that someone would come and take her down to New Orleans. Just that Katherine had no intention to make it easy for them, not wanting to leave her home. She made that abundently clear when she greeted them with a heartfelt 'fuck off' and a precisely directed hit to Jack's side. He had been so stunned that he had to thank Riley's quick reflexes that he wasn't lying crumpled in pain on the floor after another hit to his already cracked ribs.

 

"Woah, careful with the elderly, Katherine, you might just damage something permanently." the woman stepped in front of Jack, still holding on to the girl's arm, fixing her with a hard stare. "That's no way to treat friends of your dad who're here to help you."

 

"Kat!" the girl replied defiantly. "My name is Kat, I hate being called Katherine!"

 

"Alright *Kat*, let's start that again, yeah? I'm Riley and this is Jack, we're friends of your dad... well he is, but he's my friend so, same difference. He called us to help you get your things packed up and accompany you to your grandparents while he had to leave for a while." Riley explained and Jack suddenly was indefinitely grateful for her presence.

 

The younger girl pulled her arm free and glared at them both.

"Yeah well, tough, I'm not leaving! I don't know why dad called you, I can look after myself, he knows that!"

 

"Oh I don't doubt that he knows that but he doesn't know how long he'll be gone and he also knows that if he leaves his thirteen year old daughter on her own for any extended period of time, some serious red flags will be raised and before you know it, you get shipped off by child protection services, do you want that?" Riley shot back, holding Kat's glare with a raised eyebrow.

 

Jack was silently fascinated how Riley handled the situation and watched as a shred of insecurity slipped into the glare of the teenager.

"No? But I'm still not going, all my friends are here... you are here now, why can't you play the supervisor until my dad comes back?"

 

Jack just barely held back a sarcastic comment about how he would love to stay and look after a stroppy teenager who tried to punch him first thing upon arrival, but fortunately held his tongue.

 

Riley sighed.

"Yeah, that doesn't work, I'm afraid. Jack and I have a job and we can't stay away for as long as your dad might be gone."

Truth be told, they actually might be able to if they talked to Matty about it but Riley wouldn't tell her that. The idea was for her to get out of town and to safety after all, not that she wouldn't be safe with Jack around but that was beside the point.

 

"Look, I'm sorry, this is crap on so many levels but it's not forever... your dad will be back and then you can see your friends again and until then, you do have a phone and laptop, right? It's easy to stay in touch and who knows, maybe you like it in New Orleans and you meet new friends there as well, it never hurts to have friends!" Riley glanced at Jack when she said those words. It wasn't that she was talking from her own experience, she never had a lot of friends growing up, being too smart for most kids her age and those friends she had turned out to be the definitely wrong crowd in hindsight.

 

Kat glared at her, then at Jack for good measure.

"You just don't get it!" she growled, turned on her heels and went for her room, the door falling shut with an impressive 'bang'.

 

"Yeah... that went well..." Jack sighed, grasping Riley's shoulder gently. "And thanks for catching that, that hit would seriously have sucked." he added.

 

"Yeah, I think so too. Judging by the angle she was going for with the power of her whole body behind it, I'm guessing that Greg taught her a thing or two about self-defense." the woman nodded, looking up at her friend.

 

"Oh I don't doubt it, in his position I would have done so too, she might be thirteen but she obviously is a pretty girl and guys these days are assholes..." he muttered, slowly sitting down on the couch. "So, considering how 'amazing' this talk went down.. I think this is going to be a long week... any ideas how we can turn this thing around? Because not going to lie, I'm trusting your instincts here, Riles, I have no clue what I'm doing and I probably would have fucked this up right from the beginning without you here."

 

Riley plopped down next to him and sent him a small grin. "Oh I'm sure you wouldn't have, I mean, do you remember the first time we met? You had no clue what you're doing then either but you figured it out at some point. It's a lot for her to take in, she'll come around and I'm sure you'll help her with that the same way you did back then. You're a lot better at this parenting gig than you're giving yourself credit for." She sighed. "Now I think we should get our stuff from the car and get settled in here and then we should order food, let Kat stew over all the information she's gotten before."

 

**

 

They did just that but half an hour later, Jack tried his luck with the teenager once more. He knocked on her door and waited patiently, when no reply was forthcoming he slowly pushed open the door and stuck his head in. The girl was lying on her bed, playing something on her phone and listening to music, or whatever passed for music for the kids these days. Jack studied the room quickly and efficiently, interior design can tell you a lot about a person after all but more importantly he was looking for anything that might help him establish a connection with the girl. He saw nothing obvious but made a mental note to check her books and DVD cases while she was at school the next day. That might not be the most trust inspiring way to go about this but he was short on time.

 

"Hey kid, we want to order some dinner, anything in particular you'd like to eat? Pizza? Chinese? Thai?" he asked after clearing his throat loudly enough to get her attention since it hadn't seemed like she had heard him before.

 

"Not hungry..." she grumbled, turning her head pointedly away from him.

 

Jack sighed inwardly, in a way he wasn't surprised at all.

"Well, too bad, that's not going to work for me, I'm afraid. You see, I promised your dad to take care of you for the time being and that includes that I won't let you starve yourself. I won't let you refuse a perfectly good dinner now, just for you to sneak into the kitchen to eat cookies tonight and don't try to deny it. I've been there before, I know how this goes. So what do you want, it's your choice, okay? Look, even a salad is fine with me as long as you eat something." he said, arms crossed in front of him, leaning in the door frame and for some reason he felt an inexplicable sense of déjà-vu until he heard Riley snicker from the living room and he remembered that he had the very same discussion with her well over ten years ago.

 

"Will you shut up and leave me alone when I do?" was Kat's reaction to that and Jack took that as a win.

 

"For tonight? Yeah I think I can do that..."

 

"Fine! Then I want pizza. With all the toppings except anchovies and onions, those are disgusting! And extra cheese!" she said, still refusing to look at Jack.

 

The older man smirked, made a soft sound of agreement and closed the door behind him.

"Not hungry my ass..." he chuckled under his breath.

 

**

 

The next morning Jack was up before the sun, starting on the only thing he was somewhat confident about in the kitchen, breakfast. He hadn't slept all that much, still worried about this whole thing and the niggling feeling that something wasn't exactly right with Katherine besides her having to move and leaving all her friends behind. Sleeping on the couch with cracked ribs wasn't all that ideal either. But Jack didn't want to take over Greg's bedroom, for some reason that felt just wrong and he had made Riley take the guestroom, so he had the choice between the couch and the floor.

 

He took his eyes off the bacon when he heard someone enter the kitchen.

"You're making breakfast?" Kat sounded incredulous.

 

"Well yeah, I was up anyway and I always find that with a good breakfast the day doesn't look as intimidating anymore... besides, I just love bacon." he winked at the girl. "Good morning by the way."

 

"Right..." Kat blinked, obviously still tired and made her way to the fridge to get some orange juice. "Morning..."

 

"So... you want some?" Jack asked.

The teenager chuckled bitterly.

"Well let me guess, you won't let me leave without eating breakfast anyway, right? So yeah, I'll take some..."

 

Jack huffed.

"I see we understand each other. But seriously, I understand that hot breakfast isn't for everyone, so I would be totally fine with you getting some cereal or something... whatever floats your boat..."

 

"No, bacon and eggs are fine, thanks..." was the mumbled answer and Jack took that for another win and also got the sneaking suspicion that Kat really liked good food despite playing the grumpy teeanager who fights everything just for the heck of it.

 

Jack made himself a cup of coffee and joined the girl at the table.

"Now, bear with me for a moment, okay? I've been out of this for quite some time, so tell me do you need me to drive you to school and pick you up?"

 

"Nah, it's fine, I take the bus and find my way back home, I don't need a babysitter..." Kat replied, a little on edge already.

 

Jack sensed the change but he needed more information.

"And when will you return home? Not trying to control you or anything, I'm just curious, with packing and everything we do have some work to do after all. And it's been a while since I was in school, no idea if the same times still apply..."

 

"Yeah no wonder, you are old after all... but fine, if you must know, school ends around three but I'll meet with a couple of friends after school at the library for some extra credit project... should be back sometime between five and six, alright?" she said, obviously rolling her eyes despite the fact that she didn't look Jack in the eyes.

 

The agent didn't believe the girl one word. Well he did but not the reason for her meeting with her friends. Last week of school before break? Highly unlikely they would be doing any extra credit work.

"Alright, fine with me, as long as you're home by then. I'm trusting you here, kid. I'm not your enemy."

 

"Yeah right and yet you make me move to New Orleans..." Kat murmured under her breath.

 

Jack pretended he didn't hear that just like Kat probably had wanted, she didn't need to know that he had well trained hearing.

He waited until she had finished her food and started to put away the plates, putting aside some breakfast for Riley. He leaned against the kitchen counter, watching her.

"One last question, how good is your number memory?"

 

Kat's head turned around promptly a slightly confused and annoyed look on her face.

"My what now?"

 

"Your number memory..." Jack repeated, waiting patiently.

 

"I don't know, good enough, I guess... not that I would need it much, what for anyway?"

 

Jack smirked at that.

"Mind if I put that to the test?"

Now she really looked annoyed but stayed put for now and gave him a 'try me' glare.

Without much pause, Jack rattled off a string of numbers, looking at her expectantly.

Kat frowned and thought, tried to repeat the series of numbers but only made it up to the fourth which seemingly annoyed her even more, this time directed at herself.

 

"Can you repeat that, a little slower maybe?" she asked, surprisingly politely. Jack nodded and did, waiting patiently for her to repeat. On the third try, she succeeded.

"Good, short term memory works okay, now go wash up and get ready for school, let's see if you can remember the numbers correctly after." Jack grinned.

 

"You seriously are a weirdo, Jack..." Kat grumbled and left the room. Some time later, he heard the shower coming on. He couldn't help but laugh at that, it might be weird but he did have a point here.

 

Jack waited by the door when Kat came around the corner, ready to leave for school.

He smirked at her, glossing over the frown that threatened to take up his face at the get up she had chosen for the day. That was a fight he wouldn't get into with her.

"Now, let's hear those numbers, you still remember them?" he challenged.

 

"God, what's the deal with you, seriously..." Kat snapped but started to repeat the numbers perfectly anyway.

 

"Perfect. I want you to remember those numbers, okay? In case you still haven't recognised the pattern, that's my phone number. And if something is up, whatever it is, I want you to call me, okay?" he said, serious now, leaning forwards a bit to be able to look Kat in the eyes.

 

The girl looked stunned, not believing that she hadn't recognised a phone number when she heard it.

"You realise that you could just have told me and I would have saved the number in my *phone*, which incidentally is the very thing I would call you with if ever I needed to? Which I don't." she shot back.

 

Jack just gave her a wry smile.

"Of course you could have but you would be surprised how easily a phone gets lost or breaks and then what... now you have my number memorised and are not dependent on your phone." He would know after all, working with Mac had taught him about the short life of any phone.

 

She looked at him, apparently unimpressed with the whole conversation now.

"Yeah, whatever, old man. Bye!" she said, pushed passed him out the door.

 

He watched her walk down the street before he turned just to meet an impressed and amused Riley leaning in the doorway to the kitchen, breakfast plate in hand.

"That was actually pretty smart, Jack! And an almost civil conversation with a teenager as well, good start. The food is good too, by the way."

 

"Yeah, thanks..." Jack huffed.

 

~*~

 

**Los Angeles**

**Phoenix HQ**

Bozer was lounging on the couch in the war room, once again fascinated by Mac's talents. He watched how he was building a tiny power drill that still packed the actual power of a normal sized one, while explaining the process to John on the screen at the same time, it was kind of awesome. He hadn't figured out what the other thing was that they were building yet, just that it was something that Mac had come up during the night while apparently thinking through the plan of action the other team had devised. He had thought of a plan B and helped John to build the necessary equipment as well, just in case.

 

His own consultation with Maggy was finished for now already. He had finished up the pieces together with her and would call back in later when they started to get ready for the actual mission. Placing the pieces for their disguises had to be done right or one look would expose them after all. It wasn't as easy as it looked.

 

Startled he looked up when his phone rang, announcing a video call from Riley. Bozer made eye contact with Mac before he accepted the call and got up to leave the war room.

"Hey Riley... oh, hey Jack!" he greeted.

 

Mac looked after Bozer for a moment before he turned his attention back to his work.

"Hey, Mac? I think we can afford a quick break, don't you? I can call back in a couple of minutes if you want to join that call." John said, finishing up his current step in assembling the drill.

 

"Nah, it's not necessary, it's probably just a quick check in, Bozer can take care of it, it's fine." Mac replied, shaking his head. He meant it of course. Time was short and he didn't want to waste any of it in case something didn't work later on.

 

"Nonesense, go. Make sure your team is alright. To tell you the truth, I could use a minute to stretch my legs anyway. I call back in ten minutes, alright? No harm done in a short break!" John smiled in a friendly and understanding way and cut the call off before Mac could even think about disagreeing.

 

"Well... alright then..." Mac murmured to himself and went to the door, waving Bozer in who had waited and talked to the other two just outside.

"Oh hey, hang on, Mac's ready to join us..." Bozer said to the other two and re-entered the war room and immediately sent the call from his phone to the video screen.

 

"Hey Mac!" Riley greeted the blond.

"So... tech support, eh? Bozer just filled us in on some of the details." Jack smiled, kind of proud that other teams started to recognise Mac's talents more.

 

"Yeah well, we do what we can, right? So, how is it going? We kind of expected a call last night already." and Mac would forever deny that he sounded slightly pouty when he said that.

 

Riley who had heard exactly that underlying pout, chuckled a little.

"Yeah sorry about that, we meant to call last night but I guess dealing with a teenager knocked us both out before we knew it." she explained.

 

"Yeah no kidding, dealing with a stroppy thirteen year old is more exhausting than hunting a Russian arms dealer around the country... but joking aside, I think we had a really rocky start yesterday but Riley managed to make a couple of good arguments, now we *just* have to deal with a pissy teenager and not with a pissy teeanager who is hellbent on staying right here. Mind you she still doesn't want to move and I totally get that but I think she understood why we can't leave her on her own here. Thanks to Riley's subtle threatening skills. Patty might have been a traitor but she sure taught her well." Jack ruffled Riley's hair affectionately.

 

"Hey..." she grumbled.

 

Mac snorted softly, satisfied that the other two seemed to be doing okay for now. Now he could relax a bit more. Bozer however looked incredulously at Riley on the screen.

"You did what now? Threaten a thirteen year old girl? Really Riley?"

 

"It's not as bad as it sounds, Boze. I just gave her a little food for thought as to what it would mean if we left her on her own for an unspecified time like she wanted us to. Seems like Child Protection Service is a term even a thirteen year old knows and knows to avoid more importantly." Riley explained.

 

"Smart..." Bozer nodded in agreement.

 

"And effective... and other than that? Any signs that Katherine really is in danger?" Mac asked, checking his watch.

 

"No, so far I can't say I noticed anything out of the ordinary but we just arrived and she's at school at the moment but fingers crossed that it stays this way." Jack said, keeping his own suspicions to himself for now. "Alright, we call again to keep you updated, for now concentrate on your mission support. Bring them home safe, preferably with the asshole they are going after in chains."

 

"Will do, Jack. Talk to you soon!" Mac nodded.

"Oh and we'll update Matty too, so you just look after yourself!" Bozer called in lieu of a good-bye.

 

Barely a moment after the call ended, John's face appeard on the wall again.

"Well that's what I call perfect timing!" Bozer grinned, sending a playful salute to John and left the room to go and look for Matty.

 

"Your team alright?" John asked curiously.

"Perfectly, thanks John. Now where were we..." Mac looked on their little project with renewed attention.

 

~*~

 

**San Francisco**

**Just past 6pm**

"I don't like this, Riley, she said she would be-" Jack's nervous pacing got interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and closing softly.

 

"I'm back..." Kat called out, her voice missing any trace of the hard resistence that had been a part of it since the day before, replaced by a strained undercurrent.

 

Jack had already been halfway to the door to the living room and Riley quickly put down her cup of coffee when she heard his sharp intake of breath.

 

When Riley entered the room Jack was already crouching on his knees in front of the teenager. For a short moment she winced in sympathy at the pain that position certainly meant for the older but quickly concentrated on what was actually happening.

 

"Kat? What happened?" Jack asked softly, concern dripping from his voice. Gently he got a hold of Kat's chin while pushing her hair out of her face with the other, exposing a slightly bloody scratch on her cheek and the tell tale beginnings of a bruise surrounding it.

 

The girl winced and tried to pull away. Jack let her to some extend, didn't want to hurt her more.

"Nothing... just a little disagreement..."

 

"On your extra credit project?" Jack asked, getting at least the hint of an annoyed look back. "Yeah, didn't think so... come on, kiddo, sit down and we get this sorted out before it gets worse. Riles, can you get me the First Aid Kit?" he asked but the older woman had already left to do just that.

 

Jack got up slowly, wincing a little but pushing the pain to the back of his mind.

"Can you pull back your hair for me, so I can take a proper look at that?" he asked gently, giving the girl some space.

 

In a way it reminded him of the first few times he had to tend to Mac's injuries. They hadn't gotten along all that well in the beginning either but Mac being as young as he had been and being as good as he was at the same time, certainly had rubbed some of the other soldiers the wrong way. Being his partner, Jack had taken it upon himself to patch him up after every single time even if he was tempted to add to the bruises first at times. The kid had a similar sense of defiance and never once complained to one of the superiors.

 

Kat had put her hair up in a loose pony tail and in full light the bruise didn't look any better.

"Jeez, kid, that's got to hurt..." Jack murmured in sympathy just as Riley set down the First Aid Kid on the table.

 

"I gotta say, I had quite a lot of disagreements when I was your age but I never returned home looking like that... that's going to be a right shiner tomorrow. You want to tell us how that happened? You won't get into trouble, promise." Riley said softly, sitting down on Kat's other side, leaving her hand lying between them, palm up, a silent and open invitation to grab on if the girl needed it while Jack took care of her.

 

"Heads up, this is going to sting a bit..." the older cautioned before he got to work with a disinfectant wipe.

Kat whined softly, grabbing onto Riley's hand for dear life.

"I didn't want to hurt Lucy Aldridge..." she finally admitted silently.

 

Jack finished up with putting a bandaid on the scratch for now, triggering a cooling pack, holding it as gently as possible against Kat's cheek.

"Okay, I think you got to explain that one to me, how does *not wanting* to hurt someone lead to this?"

 

Riley squeezed the girl's hand. She had a pretty good idea what had happened, had seen it multiple times in her own school days but was lucky enough to never get caught in the middle.

 

"My friends and I... people respect us at school and those who don't... well we teach them better... I'm the newest in the group and Lucy didn't want to bow down to Jessica, so to speak... they caught her after school to teach her a lesson... being the newest, I was supposed to show them my loyalty or something and punch Lucy... I didn't want that, I never wanted that, I just wanted to be part of something, for everyone else to stop looking at me like I was a charity case or something..."

 

Jack and Riley's eyes met over Kat's head, Riley's with an expression of deep understanding and sadness and Jack's with concern and barely hidden anger.

 

"So you refused to punch Lucy and got punched instead..." Jack concluded softly. Kat nodded. "Did you hit back?" Jack wanted to know, remembering full well that Kat had a lot better 'technique' than obviously her opponent had.

 

The girl shook her head slightly.

"No, I looked around and saw that Lucy had gotten away when they rounded on me... I swear I didn't hit Jessica, I just tripped and shoved her enough to get away myself..."

 

Jack nodded, a small, proud smile on his lips. This girl might be a troublemaker as Greg had warned him but he had managed to teach her a proper moral compass and that would get her a long way despite having the wrong friends.

He gently caressed her hair before pulling her into his side.

"I suppose your dad never knew about any of this, huh? Well, you did good, kid, that was the right choice. Those girls were no friends and they certainly are not respected by anyone. There is a big difference between respect and fear, Kat. Fear, you can easily buy by picking on the weaker ones. Respect, you have to earn. By speaking up or standing up for what's right, like you did today."

 

"Thanks Jack." the teenager whispered. "And sorry for being so difficult and mean to you yesterday."

 

"That's alright, kid. Let's just blame puberty and forget about it, okay? You still remember the number I told you this morning?" he waited for her nod. "Good, don't you forget it, call me whenever, alright? And if they give you a hard time in school tomorrow, we'll figure something out. Now what do you say about getting into some comfy clothes, eating the leftover pizza and ice cream afterwards while watching your favourite movie?"

 

Kat looks up, giving him a small smile.

"Sounds good, thank you. You too, Riley!" she added and looked at the older woman.

 

"Anytime, Kat, anytime!" the hacker smiled sadly as she watched the girl vanish into her room. "That was really nice, Jack! I told you, you're a lot better at this parenting thing than you think!"

 

"Yeah, alright, thanks. Hey... did you ever have these kinds of problems after I left?" Jack asked, not sure if he even wanted to know the answer.

 

"Nah, I got into plenty of trouble but luckily this was never part of it. Don't worry Jack. And even if it had been, you couldn't have helped me much anyway. Hey, I'll go and give Bozer a quick call, see how their mission is going and ask him for advise with covering up bruises. I do have a rough idea how to do it but why not ask the expert."

 

"Sounds good, you do that. I think I'll take her to school tomorrow, maybe showing my presence will give her a bit of a headstart and keep those girls from picking up from where they left off tonight." Jack said thoughtfully.

 

"Yeah not sure if that will work but you sure are going to be a distraction, that's something at least."

 

(They ended up watching _Armageddon_ which was a pleasant surprise for Jack who had expected either a Disney movie or some kind of romcom. It might not be his favourite Bruce Willis movie but he wasn't complaining. Kat had explained to them that the movie had been one of her mom's favourites and they had watched it several times together. That had certainly explained how a movie that was released several years before her birth had ended up being Kat's favourite. She fell asleep halfway through however, her head cradled in Riley's lap, who gently pressed the cooling pack against her cheek and her feet over Jack's legs. Again, he wasn't complaining.)

 

~*~

 

**Los Angeles**

**Phoenix HQ War Room**

"What's the status, Melissa?" they heard Maggy's voice over the speakers. Matty, Mac and Bozer observed the development of the mission on the screen.

 

"As far as I can tell, everything goes to plan..." the young agent murmured, smiling at one of the waiters, pretending to take a nip of her drink.

 

"Maybe it's just me because I'm used to plans never working out properly but I don't like this. Something is off, it's too easy..." Bozer commented, arms crossed in front of him, a frown on his face. He had been in a good mood until now even if his conversation with Riley had been mildly concerning and she would need to explain the whole story in more detail very soon but something about *this* whole scene gave him a stomache ache.

 

"What are you thinking, Boze?" Mac asked his friend, directing his attention away from Melissa and more to the surroundings she was in, trying to figure out what felt off to his friend.

 

"I don't know, I can't put my finger on it, something just doesn't feel right..." Bozer actually sounded frustrated when he said this because it wasn't useful at all and he knew it.

 

Getting Melissa and Steve in had gone off without a hitch, the disguises worked like a charme. And as far as the team on site knew all the big players of the deal were there suggesting that the deal was still on as well.

 

Matty listened to her agents, eyes intently on the screens, frowning a moment later. Having a well working gut feeling often was the deciding factor if an op worked or went up in flames. That's why she valued Bozer voicing out his concerns a lot.

"Maggy, can you go back to the cam feed before? The one looking on the doors?" she asked the other agent.

 

"Sure, did you notice something we missed?" John answered in place of his sister while they heard the clacking of a keyboard in the background.

 

"Maybe..." Matty took a step closer to the screen, directing Mac and Bozer's eyes to the guards on the doors. "Guys, you might know this better since you've been after this guy for a while but do they usually lock the doors and have guys in tac gear and semi-automatic guns take the place of the normal security guards?"

 

"What?" was Maggy's incredulous reply to that, zooming in on exactly what Matty had talked about. "No, that's not his usual standard of operation... shit... Melissa? Steve? You got this? Be careful guys!"

 

"Crap I hate it when I'm right..." Bozer grumbled.

 

Mac studied the screens intently, switching to a tablet at times, checking data on the security system Maggy had hacked into. He wouldn't say it out loud now but he wished Riley was there, she certainly would have been able to give them a bit more freedom to work with, with her 'computer magic' as Jack called it.

"Matty, not to be the bearer of bad news but it looks like they are putting the whole building on lock down, I think this is a trap..."

 

"Damn it! John, Maggy get the two out of there, this is a trap, they were expecting you all this time! Chances are that the deal is already over and done with and they are just waiting for you to make a move! This might just be an elaborate execution plan! You have to abort this mission!" Matty snapped over the comms, expression grim. "Do you hear me?"

 

"Shit! Yes we hear you, Matty! I don't believe it, how did we miss this?" John cursed, adding a few choice words for good measure.

 

"It doesn't matter now, John, that's something to work out later, now our priority is to get Melissa and Steve out of there, preferably unharmed. We'll find a way to take this asshole down later." Matty interrupted his rant. "Mac what do you have?" the Phoenix director turned to her agent, looking for his improvisational skill to get them out of this tight spot now.

 

"Give me a minute, Matty..." Mac mumbled, quickly switching between security feeds, the system diagram and the building plans. "The doors are out of the question for various reasons actually, with the guards and the high tech locks on them... the backdoor they had planned to take Bosov out of in the first place has also gottten reinforcements..." the blond went over the several plans in his head while Bozer and Matty watched the images on the big screen, the former a lot more anxiously than the latter.

 

"Okay, I hope this works now, I fear we get only one chance at this. "Melissa? Steve? Do you have the devices John built for you? We now have to improvise on plan B. Try to get into the backhall without attracting too much attention. At the end of that hall is a toilet and right next to that should be a janitor's office. Go there!" he directed the two young agents, trying to ignore his heart rate going up as the pressure now weighing on him made itself known. He really could use a word of support from Jack by now. Not that he would mention that out loud, giving off an air of silent competence to the others instead. Falling apart now wasn't an option.

 

They watched as the two on location slowly made their way where Mac had directed them to. It took a lot longer than they really could afford but they could afford being obvious even less so they had to make do. There were no cameras in the back hall either so that was another variable to consider.

 

"Mac? Small problem, there's a guard right outside that office..." Steve's voice was very low.

 

"Just the one? Any chance you can take him out without making much noise?" the blond asked, putting down the tablet in favour of a paper clip that was now constantly changing shape in his hands.

 

"I might have an idea, not entirely sure it will work..." Melissa joined the conversation but didn't wait for more comments, they obviously had no other option.

 

So they watched her staggering exaggeratedly along the hall, giggling softly every so often through the feed of Steve's camera glasses.

"Your Martinis certainly are more powerful than I'm used to... you ever had one? You should, they are good... you're good... good looking I mean..." she rambled at the guard, who watched her suspiciously. It looked like luck was on their side for once with this mission and the guy didn't get a picture of who he was supposed to look out for beforehand. Melissa stumbled closer to him, stopping right in front of the guy, who was looking stoically at her. "Huh, even better looking up close..." she grinned, surprising the guy by leaning forward and pressing her lips on his own, holding his head steady with surprising strength while she pulled out a little syringe from behind her back, emptying it right in his neck. The effect was almost instantaneous and the guard collapsed, right into Steve's arms.

 

"Damn, that was effective..." Bozer said impressed.

 

"Well done, Mel, that was a good call..." John praised his agent.

"Would have worked even better if this guy had just the slightest clue about personal hygiene... yikes..." the woman grumbled, making them all grin despite the seriousness of the situation.

 

Steve pulled the guard inside the office, securing him with zip-ties he conveniently found in one of the janitor shelves.

"Okay, now what?" he asked while Melissa positioned a chair under the door knob to at least block the way a little bit.

 

"Now actually comes the difficult part... you see a ventilation latch on the top right corner of the room? That's where you need to go..." Mac said, his voice apologetic. He had read in Steve's file that the young agent had a thing with tight spaces, very much like he himself had a thing with heights. "Sorry..."

 

They heard Steve swallow thickly.

"No need, I can do this!" he sounded determined. "When it means I get out of here alive, I absolutely can do this!"

 

"Have a quick look around, it's a janitor's office after all, chances are there is a flashlight or something lying around, that would be useful." Mac added, taking Steve by his word. He started to navigate them through the system, Melissa softly encouraging Steve all the way through. And Mac couldn't help but think of Jack once again, those two certainly made a good team as well.

 

They just had arrived at the point where Mac needed to direct them in the usage of the drill they had built, when there was an obvious commotion in the building. It seems the bad guys finally noticed that they were gone and more importantly that one of the guards was gone as well which unfortunately tipped them off as to where they had fled to. Time was running against them now.

 

Mac talked Steve through drilling a hole in the air duct on the wall side and then setting the second device right on the hole, programming it on the small number pad on the top. What they had made actually was a little bomb but one that was well contained and enabled him to direct the explosion exactly where he wanted it to go, in this case going outward, blowing a hole into the outer wall of the building.

 

The two agents slid back as far as they dared, listening carefully for the sound of someone following them and yelling angrily through the air duct while they waited for the countdown to hit zero.

 

The explosion shook the whole system and for one impossibly long second Mac feared he had miscalculated something while making the bomb but then the dust settled and the two agents were able to climb outside. Getting to the ground was a bit trickier than he had hoped. They started their journey on the groundfloor sure, but Mac hadn't really been able to factor in the incline the ventilation system had, so they were a little higher up than intended. To top it off the vent was small enough that they couldn't turn around, so they had to go head first which probably led to Melissa's little mishap when she tried to hold herself and more or less do a somersault outside. She halfway turned alright and then yelped in pain as she lost her hold, falling hard on the ground. They hadn't been able to see what happened since Steve still was gathering himself from the ground when Melissa had followed him and there were no security cameras in their current location.

 

"Mel? What happened? Talk to us!" Maggy's strained voice betrayed her worry about her young team mate. That must be how Jack always felt when one of them pulled a stunt like that, Mac thought idly.

"I think she dislocated her shoulder when she lost her hold..." Steve said softly.

 

"Certainly feels like it, might have broken the arm while I was at it when I landed..." Melissa added voice tight with pain. "Where to now, Mac?"

 

"Well I hope the worst is over now. The explosion will have alerted them to your general direction now, though. Lucky for us now, they locked all the doors in the first place and have to unlock them manually again. I guess your best bet is to go right to the back side of the building. Keep your eyes open, there might be guards there too. Hopefully less than out front, however." Mac said.

 

It took a few moments and some rushed keyboard tapping and then traffic camera feeds appeared on their screens.

"Alright, Stevie, careful, there are indeed a couple of guards on the back side but you should be able to take them out easily enough. You remember our training on the shooting range, calm and collected, you can do this. Maggy and I come and pick you up with the van, hold them off until then, don't do anything stupid!" John said.

 

Of course the shooting at the back of the house attracked even more guards there but John and Maggy managed to pick their team mates up and get them to safety. Just their target got away once again.

 

The three in the war room shared a collective sigh of relief and Matty turned to her agent.

"Well done, blondie! You got them out safe!"

"Don't thank me, Matty, it was them who did the difficult stuff, I just told them what to do..." Mac replied, not wanting all the attention.

 

"You listen to her, Mac! If you hadn't thought about that plan B and made me build that bomb thing, we would have been seriously screwed!" John called over the comms.

 

"And you Bozer, make sure to maintain that gut feeling! This is one skill nobody can teach you but certainly will help keep you alive in the field! And *never* be afraid to voice it out loud like you did today! We sometimes become blind to the obvious things when we focus on a target!" the director praised the other man.

 

"Thanks Matty, will do!" Bozer replied, smiling happily.

 

"Alright, get back to the safe house, I'll arrange for a med evac as soon as possible! Hang in there Melissa, you did well today!"

 

"Yeah thanks, boss, but the asshole still got away!" the younger woman said, sounding genuinely pissed despite the pain she must be in.

 

"Oh I have a feeling he won't for much longer, I will make sure of that!" Matty replied, determination in her voice.

Mac and Bozer shared a look. For some reason they saw a new mission in their future.

 

~*~

 

**San Francisco**

**Not really teenage hell anymore**

After the events of the previous day, Kat's behaviour towards Jack and Riley changed significantly. It seemed like her 'friends' turning on her and Jack's advise had cured her of her tough girl attitude, leaving a rather insecure person behind who didn't really know how to face the remaining days at school. Moving to New Orleans suddenly didn't sound like such a bad idea after all too.

 

Riley had helped her cover up the bruise as best as she could and Jack had driven her to school like he had planned the evening before. He tried to encourage the girl to the best of his ability but had to admit to himself that he was seriously lacking in the 'how to deal with school drama' department. Encouraging Mac, Riley or Bozer on missions was a lot easier.

 

In the end he had to let her go with the promise to keep her head down, try her best and if she couldn't handle it anymore that Riley and he were only one call away. It was obvious that his car attracted a lot of attention and he deliberately leaned against it, keeping a close eye on Kat until she reached the school doors, arms crossed in front of him and trying to look subtly menacing enough to get the message across that whoever dared to mess with Kat, they had to deal with him. Truth be told, Jack had no clue if that worked at all but he tried at least.

 

Back at the house Riley and he called Mac and Bozer to give them an update on their situation and explain to Bozer why they needed advise on covering bruises while getting an update on the desaster of a mission of the previous day. As much as Jack had wished that Mac and Bozer had come with them, he now was glad that Matty had put her foot down and held them back. He didn't want to think about what would have happened to the two younger agents wihout Mac there. There definitely had been enough deaths in recent Phoenix history.

 

Mac and Bozer would join them as soon as the other team arrived back at HQ and debrief was over which made Riley and him very happy indeed.

 

Now though Jack was anxiously zapping through the channels while waiting for Riley and Kat to return home. The hacker had gone to pick the girl up after school and make a little girl's only shopping trip after. It was getting late however. He already had tried to call Riley but her phone went to voice mail immediately. Same with Kat's phone. He tried not to read too much into this, it was entirely possible that the both of them just had bad reception after all.

 

When the clock passed 8pm and he still couldn't get a hold of them however, Jack dialled Mac's number.

"Hey Jack, I was just about to call you, Bozer and I are heading over to the jet now and are on our way to you!" the blond said, a smile in his voice.

 

"That's good, Mac. Listen, did Riley call you by any chance?" Jack asked suppressing his nerves as best he could, mildly relieved that Mac and Bozer would arrive soon enough and he didn't have to deal with whatever this was on his own while not entirely being in best form.

 

"Riley? Not me, wait a minute, putting you on speaker. Boze, did you talk to Riley today? After their check-in this morning I mean?"

 

"No, not really... I mean the last I heard was at... let me check... 3:50pm, she sent me a picture of a new outfit she was debating on buying... nothing since then, why?" Bozer asked curiously.

 

"Because they still haven't returned home, Bozer. Riley was supposed to pick Kat up after school, go shopping for a while to distract the girl and then return home. But they are still out and both Riley and Kat's phones go directly to voicemail when I try to call them." Jack explained.

 

"Hm... that's slightly concerning, I agree... but maybe the two of them decided to go catch a movie or something and Riley just forgot to message you or the message didn't go through, that happens, right? We'll just have to wait a bit longer, maybe things will clear up soon enough." Mac tried to be optimistic even if they all knew that Riley would never forget to give Jack an update given the situation they were in.

 

"Yeah you're right, of course... that might be it." Jack said anyway, even if he sounded far from convinced.

 

"Just wait some more, Jack. We are boarding the jet now. We should be at your place in two hours max. Don't do anything rash until we get there, alright?" Mac said, knowing his partner well enough.

 

"Yeah, right. Have a safe flight!" Jack said and hanging up, trying Riley's phone once again.

 

~*~

 

**Location unknown**

**A dark, damp room**

Riley groaned softly when she came to, shaking her head slightly to clear her vision and immediately regretted that movement when a glaring headache made itself known. Confusedly she looked around, taking stock of her surroundings and her own situation. She was sitting on a metal chair that, a quick look confirming her assumption, was bolted to the floor. Her feet were zip-tied to the chair and her hands tightly pulled back, presumably zip-tied as well. Her head was killing her and so did her shoulders and wrists. Carefully she licked her lips wincing at the sudden sting and taste of blood on her tongue when she crossed a small cut.

 

The last thing she remembered was strolling through the mall with Kat... no that wasn't entirely right, they were at the back of a small clothing store that specialised in darker rock and goth style clothes, the lightning had been rather dim which had added to the atmosphere of the shop when she suddenly had felt something pressing into her side, a gun she now realised. A low voice had warned her not to make a sound if she wanted the girl to live. Instinctively Riley had looked to her side where Kat had been a couple of shelves over, just to see how a big guy held the girl tightly from the back about half a meter above the floor, a white cloth pressed to her nose and mouth and her eyes widend in horror.

 

Riley's first instinct was to struggle, get away from the guy who was holding her and his gun to help Kat but her training prevented her to make any move at all. _Good girl_ the raspy voice behind her had whispered before another cloth was pressed over her own nose and mouth. It took only a moment for Riley's vision to blur and turn black entirely.

 

"Fuck..." was the first word that left her lips upon the realisation of what must have happened. Without even checking she knew that her phone was gone as well. Idly she wondered what time it was and if Jack would miss them already.

 

"Kat?" she asked softly, turning around as far as her restraints let her, which wasn't all that far really. She noticed that the room had mostly bare walls, no windows and just one door. "Kat?" she tried again this time getting a soft whimper in response. "Kat?" she called a third time.

 

"Riley?" the teenager questioned, confusion and fear evident in her voice. "What happened, where are we?"

 

The hacker huffed wrily.

"I wish I could tell you... we got abducted, that's what happened, as to where we are? No clue... Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

 

"No, I don't think so..." Kat replied as the words sunk in slowly. "Abducted?" she finally squeaked and in the silence of the room Riley was able to hear how her breath sped up significantly.

 

"Kat! Kat listen to me, you need to calm down, alright? Deep breaths, okay? Slowly in and out otherwise you pass out again. We're getting out of here, I promise. We find a way and if we don't, Jack will! Jack always does, okay? Slow breaths!" Riley tried her best to calm the young girl down, listening closely, relief blooming in her chest when she heard Kat's breathing slow down again.

 

"Now can you help me, Kat. Can you tell me how your restraints look?" Riley asked hoping against all hope that the girl wasn't bound the very same way she was herself.

 

"Uhm... not really, my hands are pulled back... and the feet... looks black, plastic I think..." Kat said, shakily.

 

"Good, that was good, thank you, Kat..." Riley replied, not entirely sure what to do with that information now.

 

She didn't have to worry about that however because right in that moment the door opened and a guy entered the room, nice suit, tall, not all that bad looking, about Jack's age she guessed, just his smirk was beyong creepy.

 

"Awake again, I see... sorry about this little impromptu nap but we couldn't have you see where we take you, now could we? Ah and the little missy is awake as well, that's just perfect because I need you, you see? Your daddy has something I want back, something very important to me and I thought maybe he's up for a little exchange..." the guy smirked, nodded at the big guy who Riley recognised now as the one who had taken Kat before as well. With a well audible snap the guy unsheathed a knife and cut Kat's restraints loose and pulled her up. Kat tried to struggle but even with a little self-defense training she never stood a chance against a guy like that.

 

"Keep still, brat!" he growled.

 

Riley held eye contact with the boss person.

"Kat, do not struggle okay? Do what they tell you to and I'm sure they won't hurt you, am I right?"

 

"Indeed you are, I have no desire to hurt the girl, she's just a means to an end really. If she cooperates everything will be good. Or more precisely if her dad cooperates." the guy nodded, smirking even wider.

 

"But Riley..." Kat started.

"Don't Kat, it's okay. You'll be fine, okay? Just do as they say and remember what I told you. Everything is going to be fine!"

 

"Take her next door, Frank, I'll be over in a moment." the boss said, taking a step closer to Riley.

"So... Riley, is it? I was wondering already who Frank and Peter brought along for the ride. You see, I never saw you before, are you a new addition to Greg's family? His replacement mommy for dear little Katherine out there?" he chuckled darkly.

 

"Not at all, never met the man, actually, I just happen to be a friend of Kat. You do have me at a disadvantage though, you planning on telling me your name or should I just continue calling you 'creepy asshole'?" Riley retorted, smirking defiantly at the guy.

 

He obviously didn't like being called a 'creepy asshole' Riley assumed as he backhanded her hard, making her head fly to the side and the cut in her lip open up again. Not to mention the bruise that probably will appear on her cheek.

 

"I'm not sure if you are aware of your situation here, Riley. If you never met Greg as you said, you definitely are of no use to us to be honest. I could kill you right this minute and probably still would get what I wanted. But I'm not a barbarian so I won't do that, I'm sure we find another use for a pretty thing like you."

 

"Aw, you think I'm pretty..." Riley quipped. "Still doesn't tell me what I should call you though."

 

The guy watched Riley for a moment, a mix of impressed and annoyed in his eyes.

"You sure are a feisty one, Riley. Alright, just because I think you're pretty and entertaining. My name is Anthony, Anthony Romano." and with that he left her alone.

 

On her own, Riley finally allowed herself to wince at the pain in her cheek, her lip and her shoulders, the same as her wrists which, as it felt, were turning raw slowly from how tight her zip-ties were, with the smallest movement chafing at them. "Fuck... I hope Jack finds us soon..."

 

~*~

 

**San Francisco**

**Thomson Residence**

It's been one of the longest nights in Jack's life. The uncertainty of Riley and Kat's whereabouts, if they were still alive, was eating at the usually so relaxed agent. Mac and Bozer's arrival did help a little but not by much.

 

Already on the plane, they both had tried to call Riley with just the same amount of success that Jack had, that was exactly none. First thing upon arrival at the house, Bozer had taken the initiative to contact Matty back at HQ and inform her about the situation. She immediately ordered a search for Jack's car which soon had been found on the parking lot of the mall closest to Kat's school. That had surprised no one since they had already known that the two girls had been there. It only told them that they must have been taken while being there. Nobody doubted that they had been abducted at this point anymore. A trace of both their mobile phones turned out useless because they both had been shut down. Whoever had taken them, had made sure they couldn't be followed.

 

It had taken the combined persuasion skills of Matty, Mac and Bozer to keep Jack from breaking into the mall to look for clues. They reasoned that what they really needed was access to their security camera feed and without Riley they had about zero chance to get that without someone of staff around.

 

So they had waited although neither of them had liked it very much. First thing in the morning however, they made their way to the mall and politely asked (read:threatened, courtesy of Jack) for access to their security footage of the previous day.

It had taken them hours to find Riley and Kat the old-fashioned way in the amount of video footage they had and when they did they only managed to trace their steps up until the two entered a rather specialised clothing store but never left. Now they knew where and when they were taken.

 

That was when their luck ran out though. Talking to the shop staff got them no answers at all and because the store had opened only very recently, they didn't have a working security camera system for the whole store yet. So far only the camera at the cash register was working and the footage turned out to be useless.

 

Following their instincts they had checked the hallways behind the staff's back entrance with no luck whatsoever. No cameras back there either and enough exits for anyone to just slip away unseen. They literally had no lead at all.

 

Which brought them back to their temporary home feeling helpless like never before, especially Mac felt quite useless because for once it wasn't a problem that was easily solved with some on-the-go invention.

 

Bozer was just giving Matty another update of the great big nothing they had and checking if maybe she had come up with something useful for them when Jack finally broke.

 

"I don't think I can live with myself if something happens to either of them, Mac..." he said softly. "This is on me, I shouldn't have let them go on their own... we knew someone was likely to go after Kat, we knew it and I still let them go on a shopping trip. I mean, how stupid is that, Mac? That's like the first thing you learn in cases like this, don't let the asset out of your sight and reduce all unnecessary exposure to zero. And don't get me started on the fact that Riley shouldn't even be here in the first place... god..." Jack buried his face in his hands, leaning on his knees, completely ignoring the screaming pain in his side. "I promised to look after her and now I've let her down twice... not once but twice, Mac! And Kat too. How do I explain that to Greg?" he asked, voice thick with emotion.

 

Mac watched his friend's composure shatter right before him, his heart going out to him while he was just as worried about the two girls. Riley was by now just as much a sister as Bozer and Jack were brothers to him and he would move a mountain to bring her home safe. But Mac felt in his heart that they would only manage to do that if Jack got a grip on himself and started to take care of his cracked ribs properly.

 

"Hey!" Mac interrupted Jack's heartbroken monologue, forcibly pulling his hands away from his face and pushing him back against the backrest of the couch into an upright position. "Slow shallow breaths Jack, calm down or you're going to pass out on us! And we really can't afford that now!" he snapped, leaning in and holding Jack's gaze, anchoring him for the moment until he felt that the older one wasn't on the brink of hyperventilation anymore.

 

"You done now?" he asked, voice hard. "You are not the only person worried about them, Jack! Stop blaming yourself for something that was out of your hands. Without telling Kat at least part of what was really going on, there simply was no way you could have kept her home all the time. They could have taken Kat at school just as well, there was no way you could have known that this would happen. We didn't even know for sure that someone was after the girl. I firmly believe Riley being with her might be the best thing that could happen to Kat. Riley is smart, if she sees an opportunity, she will act on it. And when she does, we'll be there! I know waiting sucks, it sucks big time but blaming yourself won't get you anywhere. And don't even think about letting them down! You didn't Jack, just like you never let me down ever. You're still here after all. There would just be one way you ever could let them down now and that would be walking out that door and not looking back again! And that's not the Jack Dalton way! I know it and you know it too. And before you start arguing that you walked out on Riley back then, let me remind you that it was for her own safety, not because you didn't care! Now pull yourself out of this puddle of self-pity and think about how we can bring them home safe the moment we get even the smallest hint of their location." Mac sat down on the living room table directly opposite from Jack fully prepared to slap some sense into the older man if necessary.

 

Jack looked completely stunned for a moment, before he tiredly rubbed a hand over his face.

"Shit Mac, thanks... I needed that, brother!"

 

At that, Mac relaxed a little and sighed a small sigh of relief that he didn't have to resort to violence to get Jack out of his head. He would do it if necessary, had done it once or twice before when things got really bad but it never was fun with an ex-Delta Force soldier because there always was the small chance that it would really hurt in return.

"Anytime, Jack! We will bring them home though, you'll see. At the moment it looks rather bleak, I admit, but we will find them. I promise! You know I never broke a promise before!"

 

The older nodded slightly. Of course he knew that, he just hoped that this wouldn't turn out to be the one promise Mac couldn't keep.

 

After that, time passed even slower it felt and yet they all were taken by surprise when they noticed that it had grown dark again.

 

Bozer had given the two partners a bit of space when he had noticed the emotionally charged atmosphere in the living room after his call with Matty. After a while he started to cook up a simple meal of Mac'n'Cheese for them and all but forced Mac and Jack to eat something.

 

They were torn from the dazed helplessness when Jack's phone started to ring.

 

~*~

 

**Somewhere**

**Bad guy lair**

Riley had no way to tell how much time had passed when the door opened again and she inwardly let go of a sigh of relief when Kat got roughly pushed back into the room. The quick glance she got told her that Kat obviously was shaken up but other than some scratches and the marks her restraints had left on her she looked otherwise unharmed.

 

The hacker also noticed that Kat now was restrained by a set of shiny handcuffs and that the brute who pushed her into the room apparently didn't deem it necessary to cuff her back to the chair either. That could be the vital mistake they needed, Riley thought.

 

"You alright, Kat?" Riley asked when they were alone again.

 

"Yeah... yeah I think so..." the girl whispered in return, fear in her shaky voice.

 

"They didn't hurt you, did they? What did they want?" the hacker asked further, looking at Kat who had slumped against the wall in front of her, checking her over for visible injuries that hadn't been there before.

 

The teenager looked up at Riley, a faint air of determination in her eyes that was rather curious to the older woman with the obvious fear she heard in the girl's voice.

"No... well, that asshole slapped me when I asked to many questions, hurt like hell that one..." and now that she mentioned it, Riley could see the some of the cover make-up over the other's bruise was wiped off, the scratch bleeding again.

 

"Asshole..." Riley muttered. "His name is Anthony Romano, does that ring any bells?" she tried, not expecting anything from it though.

 

"No... never heard the name, but he kept on talking in riddles and that my dad has something he wants back. They took pictures of me with a newspaper, like they do in these older crime movies... I saw the date, Riley, we've been here a whole day already..." Kat said.

 

"Yeah I thought as much..." the hacker murmured under her breath, watching intrigued how Kat kept rubbing her head. "Something wrong?"

 

"Nah, everything's alright... well, not really... you know what I mean..." the girl whispered, sent Riley a small smirk and her determination grew when she showed a bobby pin to Riley before starting on her handcuffs.

 

Riley suddenly was reminded of Mac and shook her head in disbelieve.

"Really?"

 

"My dad taught me how to pick locks when I was eight, never thought it would actually ever be useful, I mean seriously..." Kat replied, grumbling for a moment and then grinning when the first cuff clicked open.

 

It didn't take her long to free herself from the second cuff either and than she turned her anxious eyes again on Riley.

"What now? I don't think the pin will be of much use to those ties, Riley?"

 

The hacker thought for a moment.

"You have to go, Kat. Try to get open that door and then run as fast as you can. I hope this asshole was arrogant enough to think he didn't need any guards out front. You have to get out of her and then you call Jack, okay? You can do this, Kat, I believe in you! You are tough!"

 

"What? No Riley, I can't leave you here, when they notice that I'm gone they might hurt you!"

 

 _Yeah, that's when I'm lucky..._ Riley thought wrily but shook her head resolutely. "I can handle myself, Kat, don't worry about me. Go, get out of here and call Jack, he'll come and help me, alright? Nothing will happen to me, don't you worry."

 

"But Riley.." Kat whined, clearly not wanting to leave her new friend.

 

"No Kat, listen to me! You can do this, right now, you are our only chance and I trust you, okay? I trust you! You're not a bully, Kat, you are a heroine! You stood up for Lucy and now you will do the same for me! Go!" Riley said, pointedly looking at the door.

 

Reluctantly Kat nodded.

"Alright... I'll try..."

 

With that the small teenager started working her lock picking magic on their prison door and Riley vowed to herself that should she get out of this with her head still in place, she would get Mac to teach her how to pick locks with a bobby pin as well.

 

With a last fearful and unhappy glace at Riley, Kat vanished through the door. Riley let go of a breath she hadn't even realised she was holding when the girl wasn't dragged back into the room immediately after she left, confirming her suspicion that this Anthony guy underestimated them quite a bit.

 

**

 

Kat cautiously made her way along the hallway and up a set of stairs, telling herself that this was just an elaborate game of hide and seek she needed to win to keep her nerves in check. She couldn't think about how scared she really was now. She could hear people talking, metallic screeching noises and infrequent bangs but luckily she did not run into anyone until she got to yet another hallway that led outside if the glass doors with guards on both sides were any indication. She leaned against the corner wall trying to think of something in her scared mind because there was no way she would make it out that door undetected.

 

There was another door she had passed a little down the hall. She made her way there, taking a chance when she pressed down the handle. Lucky for her the door was unlocked and the room behind empty.

 

 _Now what?_ Kat asked herself as she looked around, eyes zeroing in on an old-fashioned landline phone.

"You better keep your promise, Jack!" she whispered as she typed in the number Jack had made her memorise with trembling fingers, crouching down behind the desk the phone was on to hide at least a little in case someone looked inside the room.

 

Relief and fear overwhelmed her when a by now very familiar voice answered the phone on the second ring.

"Hello?"

 

"Jack? Jack! You have to help us, please!" the words tumbled from her lips like the tears from her eyes.

 

"Kat? Sweetheart, are you alright? What about Riley? Where are you?" the older man asked, his words a little jumbled as well before he audible pulled himself together and calmed down. "Okay calm down, sweetheart. I promise I come and get you. Where are you, do you know that?"

 

The girl forced her tears down for a moment to make sure that Jack could understand her.

"I don't know... we were unconscious when we got here, all I've seen was a bare basement and hallways... Jack, Riley is still down there, I couldn't help her with her ties... I'm scared, Jack!"

"Shh, I know you are but you know what I also know you are? Brave! Getting out of there and calling me was so brave, Kat! Are there any windows where you are now?" Jack asked further. "Can you describe to me what you see if there are?"

 

The teenager took a deep breath and carefully stepped closer to the window, describing her surroundings as best she could, adding a bit of what she heard as well, hoping that it would bring Jack to her sooner.

 

"Well done, sweetheart! You did really good there! Anything else you've seen or heard? Anything at all?" Jack continued.

 

"This guy said something about my dad. That he stole something important and that he wants that back... Riley said this guy called himself Anthony Romano..." Kat added not having the slightest idea that she had given Jack and the others the biggest clue of all now.

 

"Thank you, sweetheart! That's great help! Here's what I want you to do now, okay? Listen closely. I want you to find somewhere to hide, okay? Hide yourself and don't make a sound until you hear my or Riley's voice, alright? Don't try to escape, I don't want you to get hurt, understood? We're coming for you as soon as possible, I promise! Be careful, Kat!"

 

"Understood, Jack! Please hurry! I'm scared and worried about Riley!"

 

~*~

 

**San Francisco**

**Thomson Residence**

As soon as Jack had picked up the phone and all three men heard the scared and teary voice of Kat, Mac and Bozer had sprung into action. Mac had fired up his laptop and Bozer initiated a call with Matty.

 

"They're at the harbour..." Mac stated the obvious after what Kat had told them. "Judging from what she described and with the name, I suppose somewhere around here." he pointed at a map of the harbour area. "That's the headquarter of 'Romano Logistics'... that's got to be it!"

 

"Anthony Romano... why does the name sound so familiar?" Bozer questioned, thoroughly confused.

 

"That's because you saw it on a guest list yesterday, Bozer! Although I suppose the one you're dealing with now is his son, Anthony Romano jr.!" Maggy's voice came from Bozer's phone where the older agent had stepped up next to Matty.

 

"Hey Maggy, what're you doing there, I thought you and John are on vacation now until Melissa has fully recovered." Bozer asked surprised.

 

"We were! And then we got the news that someone of your team is in trouble and John and I thought we could return the favour and help you. I'll try my best with tech support from here, John's already on his way to you, together with a tac team!"

 

"That's great news, Maggy! Thank you!" Mac said gratefully, a calming hand on Jack's thigh. He knew that Jack would love nothing more than to get up and storm the building guns blazing. But not only had they no clue what exactly they were up against, Jack also was in no shape to storm anywhere at all. Sure he wouldn't hold him back when the tac team arrived but he would do everything to hold him back for now. Anything else would be a suicide mission.

 

"Yeah, much appreciated! Now can you tell us a bit more about this asshole we're going to take down soon?" Jack asked, voice carefully calm.

 

"Sure thing, Jack. Anthony Romano jr. for the public is an open and honest business man with probably the biggest import/export company in San Francisco. He took over the business from his father a couple of years ago. What only few people know however is that Romano senior always has been one of the biggest arms dealers as well, perfectly covered up in his official business. Since his take over, rumors have it that Romano junior has expanded the business significantly with drug imports, quickly taking over the market of greater San Francisco." Maggy informed them. "A couple of years ago, just when Romano jr. took over there had been a bit of trouble in the company. We never got the whole story on that but it must have thrown a serious wrench in his expansion plans for a while."

 

"How come they got away with all this, when we know so much about their business..." Bozer asked curious.

 

"Money, Boze! The Romano family is quite wealthy, always was even without their business. They have stragetically placed people everywhere and they make sure to cover their tracks very well. We never managed to get close enough to catch them red-handed so to speak." Matty explained.

 

"Alright, any idea how Kat and her dad fit into all this?" Mac asked, looking between Jack, Matty and Maggy on the screen of Bozer's phone.

 

"Before anyone gets funny ideas, Greg is a good guy, there is no way he would go dirty for anyone, much less some sleazy arms and drugs dealer. It must be something personal. When Greg called me, he said that something had come up that he had thought he had finished years ago. And Kat said something about Romano wanting back something important to him." Jack stated resolutely.

 

"Alright if we can rule out that possibility, we have to assume that it's something personal... whatever this job was that Greg has been working back than, he must have taken something of value to Romano junior." Matty said, trusting the instincts of her agent.

 

"Well *that's* certainly possible, Greg always had a bit of a thing with taking souvenirs from where we worked our missions. It never was anything of significance, just small stuff nobody ever missed really, paper weights, figurines and stuff... That's why we never stopped him." Jack admitted.

 

"It might not have been back then, but on that job I guess it was something of significance, even if he might not have known. That would also explain why it took Romano so long to track Greg down." Mac said thoughtfully, getting agreement from the others to that. "Assuming that it had been some undercover stuff Greg has done, tracing that theft back to him could easily take a couple of years for Romano."

 

"Be that as it may, according to their official shipping papers, the Romano company is expecting a huge shipment from Italy tonight and to top it off, it's one of the few business connections Romano senior is still involved in. We're talking probably a shit load of weapons that might soon be distributed not only on the streets of San Francisco but all over the States." Maggy said after working her way into the system of the Romano shipping company.

 

Mac stopped short at this bit of news, expression thoughtful.

"What are you thinking, Mac. You're making your 'I might have an idea' face..." Jack asked.

 

"What if they are not? Distributed on the streets I mean. What if they are meant for further shipping?" Mac said, more thinking out loud than talking to the others. "With the deal you wanted to bust yesterday to take out Bosov, we assumed that he was doing the dealing, right? What if he was the one buying? Or he was the middleman between Romano and his other clients. Romano senior was there after all, it would make sense." Mac said, turning his look to the phone screen again.

 

They could see how Maggy's eyes widened.

"That's true. It would be totally plausible. And not the first time either. But if your assumption is right, that might mean that we get another chance to take out Bosov as well! That man is notoriously pedantic with the goods he's selling."

 

"Possible, yes! I won't complain if we can put away three notorious arms dealers tonight but what I really need is for you to safely bring back Riley and Kat!" Matty cautioned.

 

If they had just had the smallest inkling that this was going to play out like that, she would have sent two teams to help the rest of her little family. But as it were, they didn't and she hadn't, so her priority was to bring Riley and the kid home.

 

~*~

 

**Underground cell**

**Was a clock too much to ask?**

Riley groaned softly. She had no idea how long it had been since Kat had left, if she made it out okay and had been able to alert Jack. The fact that the teenager hadn't been brought back yet, made her feel tentatively optimistic.

 

It didn't change her own situation however. The young hacker was thoroughly exhausted by now, dehydration obviously playing a big role in that. Every muscle in her body was screaming at her for being pulled into a most unnatural position and held there for such a long time. Her hands and feet felt cold and numb by now which unfortunately didn't mask the feeling of sticky, warm blood slowly trickling down her fingers from where her wrists had been cut open by the zip-ties.

 

The woman turned her head up sluggishly when she heard the door open and she mustered a tired smirk at the creepy asshole that stood there.

The fact that the door was unlocked and Riley was alone in her little prison cell obviously didn't go over all too well.

 

"Where is she?" the man growled, roughly pulling Riley's head back by her hair.

 

"Gone, obviously! Can't expect a teenager to stick around for long when the entertainment is as crap as it is here, can you?" Riley taunted him and idly wondered how Jack had been able to rub off on her so much already that she simply couldn't keep her mouth shut in a situation like this. Or that was just a side effect of exhaustion, dehydration and fear, she thought.

 

"Getting cheeky with me, are you? I wouldn't recommend that really..."  the guy replied, taking a step back and pulling off his suit jacket, handing it to one of his henchmen who grinned ominously.

 

"You know, I hate to hurt a pretty face like yours but you don't leave me any choice here..." Romano growled and Riley only had a second to brace herself for the impact before the fist connected with the side of her face.

Dazedly she spit some blood on the floor, before the man pulled her head back again.

 

"Now, let me repeat the question: where is she?"

Riley glared at him as defiantly as she was able to in her current condition.

"Fuck you..." she whispered, accompanied by some more blood spluttering all over his shirt.

With a baleful expression, Romano looked down at his own shirt and then at Riley again.

"Oh missy, you really shouldn't have done that..."

He got another two punches in before one of his henchmen came running in.

 

"Boss, there's trouble outside, we're under attack..." he said, quickly taking a couple of steps back again, when Romano turned his angry face to him.

 

With barely there composure, he let go of Riley.

"Don't think I'm done with you, missy..." he said threateningly but Riley only focused on the news that someone was attacking the building and she was 99% sure that someone was Jack. So Kat had done it, had managed to alert Jack to their predicament.

 

And just when relief was about to flood her body, she heard the words that let her blood run cold."

 

"Boss, we found her!"

 

_Shit..._

 

~*~

**San Francisco**

**Outside Romano shipping company**

 

Jack, Mac and Bozer had met up with John and the tac team at the harbour, quickly filling them in on what they found out and what they had roughly planned, depending on what they would find on site.

 

Jack's first priority, of course, was getting Riley and Kat out but he wouldn't let some arms and drugs dealing assholes get away unscathed for the sake of doing so. Him and Mac were pretty much used to working on their own, so they would go in on one side, looking for the girls while John would lead the tac team in apprehending the Romanos and Bosov.

 

Bozer would stay back as look out and keeping the teams informed about what was happening.

 

Mac being Mac had given them a bit of a headstart by building a nifty little contraption that made it sound like several people were shooting at the many thugs in the area. That had led to them rounding up and looking for whoever was responsible for firing at them, which in turn had made it easy for the tac team to take them all out in one swift strike.

 

Not that Jack and Mac had stayed long enough to watch. They had quickly found their way inside the building, Jack -once again- completely disregarding his own health, taking out a couple of stray guards as silently as he was able to.

 

"You okay?" Mac asked softly, when they hid behind a corner, taking a quick breather and checking the situation.

 

"Not really..." Jack admitted, holding his side but shrugged then. "Can't do anything about that now, though."

 

"I swear, once we have Riley safely back in LA, I will personally tie you down on our couch and make sure you take it easy until your ribs are healed." Mac grumbled lightly, despite the gravity of their current situation.

 

"Ha, brother, I'd like to see you try! But seriously, once we have Riley and Kat out of there, I'm inclined to not move a muscle for at least a month..." Jack retorted.

 

Their soft bantering was interrupted by a fearful scream, unmistakably by Kat. Immediately Jack grew serious again, carefully looking around the corner, gritting his teeth as he watched how a big guy was dragging a struggling Kat by her hair down the hallway.

 

"There you are, you little brat! Did you really think you could escape that easily?" another voice said and a loud slap, followed by a whimper, echoed down the hallway.

 

Mac took another quick look, recognising Romano jr. from the pictures he had seen. With a sick feeling in his stomache he also noticed the blood on the man's shirt.

 

Romano was just about to slap Kat again when yet another angry voice came from the other side of the hallway.

 

"Lay another finger on her and I swear you won't be able to count to one before you have a bullet in your brain, Romano!" he said.

 

"Daddy!" Kat's shocked voice rang out, alerting Jack and Mac that they had gotten another ally in play.

 

"Hey baby! It's all good now..." Greg said not taking his eyes from Romano.

 

Jack checked one last time but it still was just Romano and the one guard. Greg certainly would be able to handle them on his own but Jack had no intention to wait that out, they still had to find Riley after all and for all they knew they could be running against the clock.

 

He used the fact that both bad guys had their attention currently turned away from him and stepped out from behind the corner.

 

"Kat, duck!" he yelled, taking two shots in short succession, the first shattering Romano's knee from behind, the second cleanly embedding itself in the shoulder of the big guy when he moved to turn towards Jack, making him let go of Kat who instantly took off to hide behind her father.

 

Mac had used the short moment of pained confusion to quickly run up to Romano's side and cuffing his hands behind his back.

 

"Jack, pleasure to see you!" Greg said after quickly making sure that his daughter was alright.

 

"Greg! I'd say the same but I really would have liked to meet under less dangerous circumstances to be honest!" the older agent said, grabbing Romano by the hair, turning his head up. "Where is Riley?"

 

Romano, despite the pain his must be in, just smirked up at Jack.

"Wouldn't you like to know..." he mumbled.

 

"Asshole!" Jack muttered, kicking the dealer hard in the nose, knocking him out cold.

 

"I can show you! Come quick!" Kat said, heading down the hallway, closely followed by her father, Jack and Mac.

 

They had to take out a handful of guards on their way down but finally reached the cell.

 

Jack and Mac both entered quickly, sinking down on the floor on either side of Riley. The blond immediately pulled out his Swiss Army knife and began to carefully cut the restrains, trying hard not to hurt Riley more than she already did.

 

"Riley... Riley! Come on, baby girl, talk to us! Please!" Jack whispered softly, gently trying to make eye contact with his friend. That was a little hard to do however since both of Riley's eyes were pretty much swollen shut at this point, her whole face bloody and bruised and for a second Jack wished he had shot that asshole in the head instead of the knee, just for laying a finger on his girl.

 

For a long moment they feared that Riley was unconscious which wouldn't have been good at all considering that she most definitely had a severe concussion. But then she finally made a sound.

"Jack...." she breathed. "Knew you would find me..."

 

"Always, sweetheart, always!" he replied in a choked whisper.

 

"Bozer, we have her, what's the status outside?" Mac asked his friend over the comms.

"Looking good to go, John just called in a couple of minutes ago, they have rounded up most of the henchmen outside and have Romano senior and Bosov in custody. No sign of Romano jr. though." Bozer informed.

 

"Good, send someone inside, two hallways down from the back entrance is another guard and Romano jr. safely secured. And we need an ambulance like yesterday, Boze! Riley's alive but she's not looking too good." Mac couldn't help but second the heartfelt curse Bozer murmured at these news.

 

"Jack... did Kat..." Riley whispered tiredly.

 

"I'm here, Riley! I'm fine!" the teenage girl cautiously stepped closer.

"You heard that? She's safe too... you did good, kid! Come on, let's get you out of here, okay?" Jack said, carefully slinging one arm around Riley's shoulders, the other under her knees, wincing through the pain of carrying her.

 

"Jack, your ribs..." the hacker croaked.

"Don't you worry about me, kid! You focus on staying awake now, okay? We're getting you home!"

 

Mac watched the interaction with a worried expression but he knew better than to try to stop Jack from carrying Riley. His partner needed that contact just as much as Riley did in this moment. He just made sure to stay close in case Jack would stumble.

 

Greg and Kat followed the other three with concerned expressions. Kat had silent tears dripping down her cheeks, wondering if she somehow could have prevented  this from happening to her new friend.

 

**

 

The next day, they all gathered in Riley's hospital room. It was a little crowded really but not a single one of them would let that stop them, so Jack, Mac, Bozer, John, Greg and Kat were standing around the young hacker, talking softly, watching over her.

 

Matty had debriefed them via video call in the morning, just after the three arms dealers had been taken over by the local FBI team. As suspected, about a third of the shipment that had arrived that night contained weapons. That alone would be evidence enough to put them all away into a dark hole for a very long time. The Phoenix director had been glad that everyone had gotten out alive if not unharmed. As they had expected, Riley had a sever concussion from the repeated blows to her head and the cuts on her wrists would take quite some time to heal over completely but she *would* heal and that was all that mattered in the end.

 

"The thing I'm wondering is, what exactly was it now that Romano wanted back so badly that he would resort to kidnapping Kat?" Bozer finally asked the question everyone wanted the answer to.

 

"To be honest with you all? I don't have a clue... I know back then I took a small dragon statue from one of the desks, didn't even know whose desk it was at the time. It's standing in my study every since. I don't see the value in it, though. I probably should check that out, when I'm back home." Greg answered sheepishly, leaving the other people present with incredulous expressions.

 

(When they all arrived back at Greg's house, Jack and him went to investigate the statue. It was nothing obvious at first glance but then Jack noticed a little roughness on the backside and with a quick look at Greg -who nodded- smashed the statue on the floor, retrieving a small USB drive that had been hidden inside. A quick check later, John confirmed that there was a lot of incriminating data on that stick about the deals of Romano senior and about the expansion plans of Romano jr. at that time. That explained the trouble Romano jr had had in the beginning of his take over.

 

"You mean to say that the key to put them away for good has been standing in my study all this time?" Greg wondered.

 

"Yep!" John nodded.

 

"Well, fuck me..."

 

Needless to say that they gave the drive over to the FBI as well as evidence.)

 

**

 

When Riley was well enough to finally be moved into Phoenix med care in LA, Jack took Greg to the side while Mac showed some physics trick to Kat to explain some stuff to her she apparently had had trouble with in school.

 

"You've got a good kid there, Greg!" he said.

 

"Yeah, I know, she's my everything! And that's the main reason I only trusted you with keeping her safe. Had I known that you're hurt though, I would have found another way... I'm really sorry I put you in this position, Jack!" Greg said and it was a genuine apology.

 

"Don't be, mate! It's all good! Just, don't wait until the next life threatening event to give me a call, alright? I mean, I could have called too, I'm aware, but you know what I'm getting at, yeah?"

 

"I promise, Jack! I'll keep in touch! I'm sure Kat won't let me forget it now either, she likes you and Riley! And Mac and Bozer as well, so expect an invitation at some point soon." he grinned.

 

"Yeah about that... you still planning to move out to New Orleans?" Jack was honestly curious but Greg nodded.

 

"Yeah, it might be safe to stay here now but I think after everything a change of scenery will do us both good. Plus Kat gets to see her grandparents more often! It never hurts to have family close by!" he explained.

 

"Oh don't I know it..." Jack grinned, looking at Mac and Bozer. "That's good, Greg, really. It will do her real good. I think at some point she will tell you all about it herself but... Kat was having a really tough time at school, so moving out of that environment and finding proper friends in New Orleans will give her a second chance! She's a clever kid, she'll figure it out this time!" Greg looked a little confused but nodded, making a mental note to ask his daughter about it.

 

~*~

 

**Los Angeles**

**Phoenix HQ**

**Two months later**

"What's up Jack? You wanted to meet us here?" Bozer asked, falling down on the couch.

 

"Yeah, what's with the mystery, Jack?" Riley asked curious, sitting down on the arm rest next to Bozer. It hadn't been long since she had been fully cleared for duty and there still were bandages around her wrists to protect them from getting infected after all.

 

Mac just quirked an eyebrow, picking up a paper clip and started to unfold it.

 

"I got a message from Greg that Kat would like to call us and Matty kindly allowed me to quickly borrow the war room for that purpose before our next mission briefing."

 

"Okay, cool!" Riley smiled and just a moment later Jack's phone announced an incoming video call.

 

"Hey Jack! Oh hey Riley, Mac and Bozer!"  Kat waved at the camera of her phone.

 

"Woah, would you look at that, hello stranger!" grinned Jack. "Looking good, kiddo!"

 

The new environment obviously had a good effect on the teenager. She smiled a lot more, she had cut her hair into a stylish bob that shined in a nice mahogany colour and she was wearing a dark red shirt as far as they could see.

 

"Thanks Jack!" she grinned.

 

"Yeah, that's some really nice change there, Kat! You doing okay over there?" Riley smiled at the teen. She knew a couple of things already, they did text after all.

 

"Thanks! Yes, everything's fine! New Orleans is really cool after all. And grandma's cooking is a nice change..." she grinned and the whole team chuckled when they heard an indignant 'hey' in the background.

 

"School's good too. Hey, I joined the science club, Mac!" Kat literally beamed.

 

The blond grinned happily.

"That's cool, Kat! Let me know if you need help with anything, I'm always happy to help! Or you know, cheer you on at the next science fair!"

 

"Please safe me from the nerdy kids..." Jack mumbled to which Bozer clapped him on the back.

 

"Not a chance, Jack! You should have known really, introducing her to Mac was literally like pushing her to the nerdy side!"

 

"Yeah well... anyway, as long as you have fun and make good friends there..." Jack said, putting an emphasis on the word 'good'.

 

"I have and I do, Jack! No worries! Listen, dad just reminded me that you probably have work to do... I actually wanted to issue an invitation, well *we* wanted to. I think we finally settled into our new home here and would like to invite you to a BBQ weekend whenever you have the time!" Kat said.

 

"Hell yeah, BBQ! I'm in!" Bozer exclaimed excitedly.

 

"Hey, I'm always game for that! We'll let you know when we can have some time off, alright?" Jack smiled.

 

"Awesome! I'm looking forward to that!" the teenager grinned.

 

"You stay safe, kid! And you know, you remember my number now, it's not strictly reserved for emergencies, okay?" he added.

 

The other three said their good-byes and promises to visit soon and shortly after the call ended.

 

Jack smiled to himself.

"That kid... still a little firecracker..."

 

"And you wouldn't want her any other way, Dalton, don't try to pretend!" Matty commented from the door.

"Now that I have your attention, meet your new target..."

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact? I've had this saved under the working title 'Babysitter Jack'
> 
> Also, have you noticed by now that I have a thing for Jack using all these terms of endearment when he's faced with distraught females?


End file.
